Real Madrid Defence a Major Concern Despite Champions League Win over Ludogorets

Karim Benzema’s 77th-minute winner spared Real Madrid’s blushes as they came back from a goal down to defeat Ludogorets 2-1 in Sofia on Wednesday.

It could not, however, mask what was a subpar performance from the Champions League holders, particularly in defence.

Madrid may have had a dragon on their shirt, but Ludogorets had fire in their bellies. They came out on the front foot and made things difficult for their illustrious visitors from the off.

The home side had already launched two dangerous attacks before Marcelinho took advantage of some slack marking to head home from a set piece in the sixth minute of play.

Madrid struggled to defend dead-ball situations in their league defeats to Real Sociedad and Atletico Madrid and again failed to cover themselves in glory. Five players were drawn towards the near post, leaving Marcelinho free to get a run on Alvaro Arbeloa and nod in at the back stick.

Ludogorets created decent opportunities from another couple of set pieces, but it was Madrid’s weakness in defending the flanks that brought the home side most joy throughout the 90 minutes.

As reported by Marca, Carlo Ancelotti has repeatedly stated that he wants his team to move into a 4-4-2 shape when out of possession, as he believes this alignment provides the best defensive cover across the width of the pitch.

There was, however, little evidence that his side have adopted this approach during Wednesday’s match.

Ludogorets were consistently able to work good situations down the flanks, with both full-backs getting forward well in support of their wide forwards. Gareth Bale and Isco provided little backup to Madrid’s full-backs, who were regularly outnumbered.

It was a carbon copy of the problems Madrid faced in their weekend victory over Villarreal. They came away from that fixture with a clean sheet, but it was due more to poor finishing from their hosts than their own defensive stability—Raphael Varane aside.

For all that the initial focus in the wake of Xabi Alonso’s departure was on Madrid’s problems defending the centre of the pitch, it is in wide areas that they currently look most vulnerable.

This problem was compounded on Wednesday by a very poor performance from centre-back Sergio Ramos.

Mihali Aleksandrov moved untracked into space between Ramos and Marcelo early on but was just unable to bring a long diagonal pass under control to get off a shot at goal.

Ramos then sloppily gave the ball away for the Ludogorets attack that led to the corner from which they opened the scoring.

He conceded possession on three or four other occasions and regularly committed himself too readily to challenges, allowing himself to be easily turned. He was booked for bringing down Wanderson after being outwitted in the centre-circle late on.

Valentina Petrova/Associated Press

The defence was not the only part of the Madrid team that didn’t function as required.

In attack, Isco’s fancy footwork was rarely allied to an end product, Bale was a relative non-entity, while Javier Hernandez missed a couple of guilt-edged chances and offered little otherwise.

Ronaldo scored from the spot but had another penalty saved and endured a largely frustrating evening.

Indeed, it was only once Benzema was introduced in place of Hernandez in the 66th minute that Madrid really began to function properly as an offensive unit.

In midfield, Luka Modric did not enjoy his usual influence, while Asier Illarramendi was guilty of cheaply ceding possession on occasion.

Those problems are, however, likely to be solved by the re-introduction to the starting XI of Benzema, James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos for Sunday’s match at home to Athletic Bilbao.

The defensive issues, on the other hand, appear to be largely systemic. Even in comfortable recent victories over Basel and Elche, there were moments when Madrid were left exposed at the back.

Ludogorets did not quite possess the requisite quality at the sharp end of the pitch to take advantage of the opportunities and situations they created. But better teams will.

Madrid have some difficult fixtures coming up over the next month or so. Athletic, Levante and Granada will all seek to take advantage of their deficiencies in defending set-pieces, while Barcelona and Liverpool will hope to profit from swift and incisive attacks down the flanks.

Ancelotti’s team got away with it on Wednesday night. He will know that defensive improvements are required if they are to continue their current winning streak through the remainder of October.

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